Next available start date: July 2025
The University of British Columbia offers a 12-month fellowship in regional anesthesia and acute pain medicine based at St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver BC, Canada. St. Paul’s Hospital features a busy block room associated with the main operating rooms which is staffed daily with a dedicated anesthesiologist and an anesthesia assistant. In addition, our facility operates a high-volume outpatient operating room area where extremity surgeries are performed solely using regional anesthesia techniques. We have recently introduced a new regional anesthesia program with a dedicated block area at our associated community hospital (Mount Saint Joseph Hospital, East Vancouver) where we provide regional anesthesia for breast surgery and other ambulatory surgical procedures. Between our three block areas, over 3,000 regional anesthesia techniques are performed annually.
Our practice includes a diverse mix of ultrasound-guided upper and lower extremity nerve blocks, continuous perineural catheter insertions, ambulatory “home” perineural catheter analgesia, truncal/paravertebral blocks, and neuraxial techniques. The regional anesthesia fellow will gain ample experience in the performance of these techniques, and progress to the teaching and supervision of anesthesia residents during their regional anesthesia rotations. Fellows will also join the acute pain service (APS) a week at a time, longitudinally throughout their fellowship year. The number of APS weeks required varies according to the needs and past experience of each individual fellow, but all fellows are required to complete at least 4 weeks of APS.
In addition to the clinical experience, fellows will gain considerable experience in block room management, patient flow through the block area, and organization of anesthesia assistants and resident learners in a busy block room environment.
Non-clinical academic productivity is required, and fellows are expected to complete a project over the course of their fellowship year. This may take the form of a quality assurance / quality improvement audit, a case series publication, or a more structured clinical study. 20% of the time (1 day per week) is protected for research and other academic endeavours, once a project is underway. Fellows will provide general anesthetic care as a service obligation 1.5 days/week on average over the course of the 12-month program. Service days entail providing anesthesia in an operating room for any of the typical surgical services offered at our hospital – with the exception of cardiac surgery.
Teaching opportunities are plentiful and fellows will expand their clinical teaching skills over the course of the year. Fellows are expected to present departmental rounds and lead a regional anesthesia focused journal club discussion once during their fellowship. There are frequent opportunities to teach regional anesthesia skills to resident learners, and fellows may be invited to instruct ultrasound techniques at the annual Whistler Anesthesiology Summit, depending on the workshops offered that year. Funding to attend a major regional anesthesia meeting is provided, and fellows will be entitled to 4 weeks of vacation over the course of the year. The annual salary is $96,000 CAD.
Interested applicants can submit their curriculum vitae and a cover letter to: (electronic submissions are preferred)
Dr. Steven Petrar
Regional Anesthesia Fellowship Director anesthesia.fellowships@ubc.ca
c/o Charlene Perry, Office Administrator
Dept. of Anesthesia,
St. Paul’s Hospital Providence Health Care,
1081 Burrard Street Vancouver BC,
Canada,
V6Z 1Y6
Ph: (604) 806-8337
Fax: (604) 806-8487